Song of Spider-Man

The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History

By: Glen Berger

Narrated by: Glen Berger

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

“One of the best literary works of this year” (Miami Herald-Tribune): The true story of a theatrical dream—or nightmare—come true…the making of the Spider-Man musical.

As you might imagine, writing a Broadway musical has its challenges. But it turns out there are challenges one can’t begin to imagine when collaborating with two rock legends and a superstar director to stage the biggest, most expensive production in theater history. Renowned director Julie Taymor picked playwright Glen Berger to cowrite the book for a $25 million Spider-Man musical. Together—along with U2’s Bono and Edge—they would shape a work that was technically daring and emotionally profound, with a story fueled by the hero’s quest for love…and the villains’ quest for revenge. Or at least, that’s what they’d hoped for.

But when charismatic producer Tony Adams died suddenly, the show began to lose its footing. Soon the budget was ballooning, financing was evaporating, and producers were jumping ship or getting demoted. And then came the injuries. And then came word-of-mouth about the show itself. What followed was a pageant of foul-ups, falling-outs, ever-more harrowing mishaps, and a whole lot of malfunctioning spider legs. This “circus-rock-and-roll-drama,” with its $65 million price tag, had become more of a spectacle than its creators ever wished for. During the show’s unprecedented seven months of previews, the company’s struggles to reach opening night inspired breathless tabloid coverage and garnered international notoriety.

Through it all, Berger observed the chaos with his signature mix of big ambition and self-deprecating humor.

©2013 Glen Berger. All rights reserved (P)2013 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved

A Step-by-Step Guide On How NOT To Make A Musical

This is an insane story! Every couple of pages another unbelievable twist or crazy event would occur. There is so much going on during the making of this musical that it’s still impossible to directly dissect what went wrong. Clashing egos, running out of money, unfaithful source material, arduous stunt work tech, ridiculous songs about spider women wearing shoes, running out of money again, scheming collaborators... It’d be easier to figure out what they did right.
Glen has been apart of this story from the start and is one of the VERY few who saw it through to the end of this cursed show. His account of the events is with humility, hubris, comedy, tragedy, fast paced, dramatic and always riveting! I finished this in about 3 days because I had to see what was going to happen next.
For anyone interested in Spider-Man, this is not about Spider-Man. For anyone interested in broadway history, U2, the art of creating a musical from inception to stage and all the problems that come with it, then this is a must read. And you’ll be shaking your head going “oh my god, really??” every other page.
The only things I can think of to say negatively about this audiobook are nitpicks. The biggest thing I had an issue with that I eventually got over due to how good the book is, is that Glen does not have the greatest voice for reading aloud. His voice sounds almost like Mathew Broderick to me and once I realized it that’s all I could hear lol but besides that there isn’t much emotion or acting. He does an okay job at distinguishing his voice for Julie, Bono and the Edges’ dialogue but for the most part it’s pretty bland. I almost didn’t get this after I listened to the audio preview and was pretty turned off by it. But as I said, once you’re in the story, you’re in all the way and so I still give his performance 5 stars.
Definitely enjoyed this, will recommend it to people. I already want to read it again!

Fantastic

Amazingly candid personal account of an epic tale of the greatest “flop” in Broadway history. Anyone who endeavors to try anything should read/listen to this incredible chronicle.

Fascinating and engaging

Would highly recommend — I thought it was extremely interesting, funny, and thoughtful. Great inside look

Behind the Scenes and Then Some

I didn’t follow the ups and downs of this musical at the time, though I “knew” it had been a prodigious failure brought low by hubris and egos run amok.

Turns out the story is more complex and
nuanced than that— of course! — and one to learn from even if you’re not Broadway bound because it’s about the creative process, the power of personality, and some damn interesting creative folks like Julie Taymor, Bono and the author himself.

Often when an author reads his own work, the outcome is a quasi-disaster. But Glen Berger reads his own work with great humor and a chatty rhythm that feels like you’re in a room with a smart, entertaining friend telling a fantastic story. He is even good (well, pretty good) at Bono’s and the Edge’s Irish accents!

Highly recommend to those who enjoy behind-the-scenes accounts of Broadway and film productions. You are not only taken behind the scenes but escorted to the scenes behind those scenes. Dizzying? Yes, but that’s Broadway, baby!

Great story well told

Oh my god they really make you write a review to give a book a ranking that’s dumb

What a fabulous story!

I am a great fan of audio books. It is a true artist who can write a great story and read it, or more accurately perform it. And the author did these things in such a way that I couldn’t wait to start listening to it every day as soon as I had the chance. Most stories that attempt humor just can’t pull it off. This book is subtly hilarious. Made me laugh out loud — often. It was also an amazing story of a Broadway production. An amazing story about personalities. Mostly I felt was a story about the author himself, who you’re just couldn’t help but like and admire. I hated to see it end.

A "Disaster Artist" for theater nerds

Huh... So THAT'S why the show was so weirdly h*rny...

That's not my main takeaway from the book or anything, but it was something that kept coming up. That may seem like a weird and out of place thought, but but weird out of place hornyness and this play go hand and hand.

Aside from all that what is there to say about the book? Glenn Berger is a story teller. So it should be no surprise that the book is engaging throughout and manages to turn a recounting of events into a well structured narrative.

Mr Berger is also both the author and the narrator which is a combination im always partial too for audio books. No one does a better job of translating the authors voice from page to sound than, well, the authors voice.

Oh also a warning for anyone who's ever worked tech or any support roles in theater. Had a friend of mine who was a former tech crew head in high school and did professional lighting for shows for a few years listen to parts of the book. Hearing about how some of those parts of the show came about or were handled nearly gave him a panic attack